Constitutional Powers of Local Governments

in Nigeria: Understanding the Powers of the

Tiers of Government

by

Samuel Oguche, PhD

Senior Research Fellow
oguchesamlaw@yahoo.com

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 Prefatory
There are three arms of government in virtually all
modern political systems of the world:
the legislature
the executive
the judiciary
The arms primarily perform law making, law
enforcement and law interpretation/adjudication
functions respectively.
The functions performed by each organ of
government in Nigeria cut across all tiers of
government: the federal, states and local government
councils. 2
Functions/Legislative Powers
(a) collection of rates, radio and television licenses;
(b) establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial
grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm;
(c) licensing of bicycles, trucks (other than mechanically
propelled trucks), canoes, wheel barrows and carts;
(d) establishment, maintenance and regulation of
slaughter houses, slaughter slabs, markets, motor parks
and public conveniences;
(e) construction and maintenance of roads, streets,
street lightings, drains and other public highways, parks,
gardens, open spaces, or such public facilities as may be
prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly
of a State;
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 Functions Cont’d
naming of roads and streets and numbering
of houses;
provision and maintenance of public
conveniences, sewage and refuse disposal;
registration of all births, deaths and
marriages;
assessment of privately owned houses or
tenements for the purpose of levying such
rates as may be prescribed by the House of
Assembly of a State;
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 Functions Cont’d
control and regulation of
(i) out-door advertising and hoarding,

(ii) movement and keeping of pets of all

description,
(iii) shops and kiosks,
(iv) restaurants, bakeries and other places for sale
of food to the public,
(v) laundries, and
(vi) licensing, regulation and control of the sale of
liquor.
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 Statutory Levies
Taxes and Levies (Approved List for
Collection) Act, Cap. T2
Shops and, kiosks rates.
Tenement rates.
On and off liquor licence fees.
Slaughter slab fees.
Marriage, birth and death registration fees.

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Levies Cont’d
Naming of street registration fee, excluding any street
in the State Capital.
Right of Occupancy fees on lands in rural areas,
excluding those collectable by the Federal and State
Governments.
Market taxes and levies excluding any market where
State finance is involved.
Motor park levies.
Domestic animal license fees.

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 Statutory Levies cont’d
 Bicycle, truck, canoe, wheelbarrow
and cart fees, other than a
mechanically propelled truck.
Cattle tax payable by cattle farmers
only.
Merriment and road closure levy.
Radio and television licence fees
(other than radio and television
transmitter).
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 Levies Cont’d
Vehicle radio licence fees (to be imposed by the
local government of the State in which the car is
registered).
Wrong parking charges.
Public convenience, sewage and refuse disposal fees.
Customary burial ground permit fees.
Religious places establishment permit fees.
Signboard and advertisement permit fees.

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Legislative Lists

Exlusive Legislative List (Part 1 Second

Schedule)
Concurrent Legislative List (Part II,
Second Schedule)
Residual Powers

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Recent Trend
Power
Prison
Railway

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 LGAs and Other Tiers
Local Government is not mutually exclusive
of other levels of government
there is bound to be an interaction between
local government and other levels of
government.
Interactions that take place among the
different levels of government within a state.
Schools of thought:
Federal system
Both federal and unitary
International level 12
Nature of Relationship between LGs
and Other Levels of Government
Constitutional relationship (s. 3(6) -768 LGAs as
shown in the second column of Part I of the First
Schedule; s.7(1)
Political relationship (creation of new LGAs,
boundary adjustment, etc)
Financial relationship:
 The constitution expects local government councils to
generate their revenues
 Maintenance of the Federation Account
 RMAFC) shall present a revenue formula to the
President to be placed before the National Assembly
for the purpose of distribution.
 Joint-State-Local Government Account 13
 Relationship cont’d
Administrative relationship
MDAs of the central government supervise and mentor local
councils in their respective fields of concern.
 Both the federal and state Ministries of Health in Nigeria
work closely with the local councils to ensure that they
provide primary health services in accordance with the
national standards and policies
 Conferences and Meetings, such as Commissioners for
Local Governments
 Intergovernmental social service delivery which may cut
across issues such as the protection of life and property to
be provided by the police, community and rural
development efforts and health services delivery all of
which have greater implication of federal-state-local 14
 Relationship cont’d
Judicial Relationship
Power of Judicial Review: the judiciary can declare as
null and void, ultra-verse, unconstitutional and with no
affect any law made by the federal or state government
which is contrary to constitutional provision.
Local government as a legal entity can sue and be sued
by other levels of government.

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 Challenges
Revenue
 Conflicts have arisen over issues of tax jurisdiction,
revenue sharing and IGR fiscal transfers.
 Delays in the disbursement of funds by the state to the
local governments
 Stoppage of revenue allocation to States that
conducted elections into newly created LGAs

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 Challenges cont’d
Overconcentration of Political Power

Distribution of powers under the Constitution –

concentration at the centre

Strong unitary elements.

A school of thought has argued that, if Nigeria wants to

practice a true federalism, then it should go back to its 1963

Constitution. 17
 Challenges Cont’d
Illegal Removal of Local Government Officials
Between 1999 and 2003 about 10 local government
Chairmen were removed and suspended from office.
This led to litigation against 36 States Governors and
the Houses of Assembly
The effect is disruption in the flow of governance,
through waste of resources, time, etc.

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 Challenges Cont’d
Constitutional Status of Local Government
Sections 3 and 7

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Conclusion
LGs being the closest to the people should be
strengthened by devolution of more powers to enable
them meet the constitutional aspirations of being
grassroots governments.
This can be done by effectively addressing the
challenges above, especially constitution alteration to
remove ambiguities surrounding the status of local
governments in Nigeria.

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